Genoa or Rome?

In Genoa you can swim without leaving town. There is the pebble cove at Boccadasse, the bathing establishments along Corso Italia and the rock platforms below Nervi's promenade, all with clear water. The Riviera bays of Camogli and Sestri Levante are a short train ride away. Expect pebbles and coarse sand rather than a soft beach, and rented loungers take up much of the space.

In Rome the sea is a separate outing. Ostia's dark volcanic sand is half an hour away by suburban train, but it is mostly paid lidos and the water is rarely clear. The prettier coves at Sperlonga and Sabaudia are a long trip south. Both coasts fill up on summer weekends.

Both cities cook with a strong regional identity, but Rome has the richer table. There are its four classic pastas, artichokes fried the Jewish way in the Ghetto, Testaccio's offal dishes and serious street food in pizza al taglio and supplì. That gives a visitor far more to work through, as long as they eat in Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio rather than beside the big sights.

Genoa's cooking is narrower and very local: pesto with trofie, pansoti in walnut sauce, focaccia for breakfast and farinata from the old friggitorie in the caruggi. Its seafood and Ligurian white wines are a step above Rome's modest local wines, and the Mercato Orientale is Genoa's answer to Testaccio's market.

Rome is in a different league. With the Colosseum, the Forum and the Pantheon, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, the Borghese Gallery and Bernini's piazzas, a week feels short, and the hard part is choosing what to leave out.

Genoa's appeal is quieter and more contained. It has the shaded medieval caruggi, the Rolli palaces on Via Garibaldi with their painted halls, Van Dyck and Rubens in the Palazzo Rosso and the Palazzo Bianco, and the marble sculpture of Staglieno cemetery. It rewards two or three days of discovery rather than handing you a long list.

Neither is a clubbing city, and in both the evening runs on aperitivo and drinks in the squares. Rome simply has more of it. Trastevere's lanes stay full until late, Monti has cocktail and wine bars, and San Lorenzo and Pigneto add student and arty crowds.

Genoa is more reserved and quiet on weeknights. Evenings centre on the small bars around Piazza delle Erbe and the university, with waterfront bars at the Porto Antico and beach clubs along Corso Italia in summer.

Genoa sits between steep hills and the sea, so the outdoors starts at the edge of town. A funicular to Righi leads to the ring of fortresses above the port, and the Portofino promontory has cliff paths down to San Fruttuoso. The Cinque Terre trails are a train ride away, and boats go out into the Pelagos Sanctuary to watch whales and dolphins.

Rome's nature is gentler and further away. In town, the highlights are the villa parks and a bike ride along the Appian Way. For proper hiking you head to the crater lakes of the Alban Hills or to the Apennines, about ninety minutes away.

Both are excellent bases, but Rome reaches further and in more directions. Ostia Antica, the Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa are close by. The Etruscan tombs, Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio lie to the north, and fast trains bring Florence, Naples and even Pompeii within reach.

Genoa's strength is one coastline. Camogli, Portofino, Sestri Levante and the Cinque Terre lie along the eastern Riviera, quieter Noli and Finale Ligure Borgo lie to the west, and Milan and Turin are about an hour and a half inland. For a run of seaside villages it is hard to beat.

Genoa has a ready-made day out for children at the Porto Antico. The large aquarium, a children's science centre, the glass biosphere and the walk-through submarine at the Galata museum sit side by side, and the funiculars and public lifts are rides in themselves. The steep, dark lanes of the old town are hard going with a pushchair, though.

Rome asks more patience of young visitors. Its great sights are aimed at adults, the queues are long, and summer heat and cobbles wear families down. Villa Borghese, with its zoo, rowing boats and space to run, is the main break.

Genoa's funiculars, rack railway and public lifts do the climbing for you, and the coastal railway runs straight out to Nervi and the Riviera towns, which gives it a slight edge. In the old town you are on foot in a maze of lanes, and the buses crawl through the narrow streets.

Rome's main sights sit closer together, and the walk from the Colosseum past the Pantheon to Trastevere is a pleasure in itself. Beyond that, the metro barely touches the historic core, buses and trams stall in traffic, and cobbles and summer heat wear you down. A car is more trouble than help in either city.

Rome is the shopping city of the two. You can go from luxury to leather and handmade shoes: there are the fashion houses on Via Condotti near the Spanish Steps, the independent boutiques and vintage shops of Monti, the antique dealers of Via dei Coronari and the sprawling Porta Portese flea market.

In Genoa, shopping means things to eat and things made by hand. Long-established shops in the old town sell candied fruit, olive oil and pesto, workshops make silver filigree and coral, and the Mercato Orientale is good for food to take home. Via XX Settembre covers the familiar Italian labels without much depth.

Genoa is the easier city on the wallet. Central hotels cost less, focaccia and farinata make cheap meals, and the funiculars are inexpensive. The smart Riviera resorts and paid loungers do push up costs in summer.

Rome's daily eating is fair value, with espresso drunk standing at the bar, pizza al taglio and free water from the city's fountains. But central rooms are expensive and small, and the Vatican Museums, the Colosseum and the Borghese Gallery all charge substantial entry fees. Staying outside the centre helps.

Rome has more evenings worth planning around. There is opera and ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera, which moves outdoors to the Baths of Caracalla in summer, and the Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. Church concerts are frequent and the city has a long-running jazz scene.

Genoa has a respectable season at the Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari, Paganini concerts and small clubs that keep its singer-songwriter tradition alive, which is enough for a night or two. In both cities the theatre is in Italian.

Genoa's calm is by the sea, on the promenade and in the villa gardens at Nervi, or over a long lunch in a Riviera village, well away from the port traffic of the centre. Apart from hotel spas, the nearest thermal water is inland at Acqui Terme, a little over an hour away.

Rome has hot water closer at hand. The sulphur-fed outdoor pools at Bagni di Tivoli are just outside the city, and there are free open-air springs around Viterbo. In town, hammam-style day spas add to the hotel spas, and the villa gardens and the Aventine hill are the quiet places to sit.